it’s still for sale… fucc. But that’s WAY too much for a DDR Economy Car.
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tbh, a scion xb just oozes character compared to the cute, but mostly harmless Trabant… and I’d take the xb anytime, any day.
Or a Nissan Cube. The japanese just got the idea of the tiny car for people and mastered it, while ze germanz went all Benz, Golf and 3 series, leaving a gaping hole for tiny, fun, kinda crap but ultimatively cool econo boxes, they tried with the Audi A2 (Mark 1) and very late in the game with the Up GTI, but never phoned it in like the best of the kei boxes.
The french honed (and Loved) the hatchback and put out some brilliant examples, 205 GTi or hot Clio (the car, not the muse)… maybe the new e-R5 will not suck, but idk if that will see US shores?
Anyway, cheating option is the Fiat 500, the secret star of the show that, iirc, should be available on your shores as well?
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I would love an xB, especially the first gen. However, owning a car built in East Germany with a 2 stroke engine is just really funny to me.
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A bunch of these show up to the Greenwood car show in the summer, there seems to be a whole community around them here
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really! I have been to the greenwood car show a few times and never saw any trabants, but I did see a bunch of Ladas in one group, I’ve even seen a Lada Niva driving around. However if there is a seattle trabant club, well, I’ll have to join
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Hmm is it possible that I am confusing the soviet built vehicles I saw whenever it was I last went
That would make sense, there’s a decent-sized Russian immigrant community around here.
I don’t think Russian immigrants are the ones who actually like to keep these cars around
generally speaking I think they would rather never see them again
the kitsch is coming from inside the house
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heh, maybe everyone brought them over in the '90s and dumped them fast
I do not think that is it
There’s a local museum who seems to have a lot of these cars that show up on Craigslist, including Zaz’s, Vaz’s and Ladas. My guess is they bought a whole ton of them over for cheap a while ago, and regularly cleans up some of them to sell off to freaks like me.
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Had to do a quick scan to see if I was in the background of any of those pictures hahaha
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Snowrunnerin’ on and on and on and on …
this game has some nice scenery when the weather is right… loving the snow in Alaska def better than the muddy Michigan stage, that’s for sure!
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I really, really loved it for that exact reason. felt like the right balance of sim-y and objective-driven and really beautiful.
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And it has the CAT 0680, which is now officially known as Sonic the Truckhodge… OK, that title still needs some raffinéssé, but we’re getting there!
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I’m playing Ridge Racer Type 4 for the first time. I’m always surprised by how compact Ridge Racer games are. This is the only one that has writing in it though, as far as I know. I’ve played through the grand prix with every team. The epilogue has given me chills every time.
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A 2 stroke car seems fun, like riding a russian chainsaw but I think you have to manage heat like youre playing excite bike. Id love to have such a cute little quirk mobile.
The first gen XB is indeed very fun, its excellent for carrying 4 adult people comfortably, hauling a ton of stuff and generally being no hassle maintenance wise. My clutch is 200,000 miles old might still be fine if I hadn’t mis-shifted into 2nd instead of 4th and saved it with a clutch stab. They currently go for like 5K but they are all hitting the point of needing actual service. If I paid for my clutch to get replaced instead of DIYing it like a freak it would be like $1500 or more than 1/4 of the car’s value if it was in perfect shape. I intend to keep this car forever. I cant find anything new that is as fun to drive and has this level of utility. The XB is basically a yaris, it has yaris suspension, a yaris engine, a yaris transmission, yaris hardware etc. Which means that despite being 17 years discontinued all its major components are still (or were recently) being manufactured. What really makes the car exciting is the transmission, its identical to the yaris unit but they lowered the final drive ratio to wring out as much acceleration as possible from its 100hp. Its not a sports car but it wants to go.
I dont know much about the CUBE other than that it just doesn’t seem to have an active fanbase. Im not big on nissans from the 2000s generally. It is cute though.
The Kia SOUL is numb to drive but has all the other advantages of the XB. I will say that on a long road-trip the kia is nicer by being quieter inside. The steering is non-linear and over boosted giving you poor road feel and no real sense of wtf is going on. So pushing it feels spooky. The throttle is dive by wire with a lot of lag. Its a good appliance. It seems well made. Ergonomics are top notch. Its relaxed and rubbery.
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I already do with my mopeds, each one has a temp gauge on it and it’s mainly to tell me when I’ve gone over 450 degrees and the piston is about to seize
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